Magistrate targeted by a flash-ball shot in 2019: the gendarmes publish the photo of a wanted key witness

by time news

His face marked with a scar on the left cheek has been questioning investigators for almost two years. This man, considered an essential witness by the gendarmes, is indeed at the heart of a case as rare as it is sensitive: the ultra-violent attack on a magistrate, president of the Yvelines Assize Court, seriously injured by a shot defense ball launcher (LBD) on June 17, 2019 at his home. A mysterious attack which had aroused great emotion in the judiciary and its 8,500 members, illustrating the threats and attacks of which these actors in the judicial world are too often victims.

Three years later, the perpetrators of this violent attack against this now 55-year-old magistrate are still running. And the gendarmes of the research section of Versailles launch, this Tuesday morning, a call for witnesses in order to find a man described as “a key personality of the investigation”, by a person close to the file. Of “Afro-Caribbean type, measuring between 1.70 and 1.80m, apparent age between 25 and 40 years old”, the man is, in the photo released by the gendarmerie, dressed in a purple cap and wears a “mustache nascent” and a “beard collar not provided”.

According to our information, this man whom the investigators are trying to locate or identify was filmed by the videophone of the magistrate’s home on the day of the events. He is suspected of being the shooter. On June 17, 2019, it was just after 9 a.m. when two suspects approached the house of the judge, who was not in court that day. They ring the intercom and introduce themselves as delivery people. One of the two assailants, armed with a flash-ball, then approaches a window of the magistrate’s home. When she finally opens the window, almost point-blank, the man fires towards her face before fleeing on a motorcycle – a Yamaha MT09 Tracer which is also actively sought by the gendarmes. While the magistrate is lying on the ground, seriously injured in the eye, one of the criminals launches this disturbing sentence to the magistrate: “You have not been nice to the garbage collectors. »

Three years later, still no police custody in this case

Three years later, the gendarmes remain in any case circumspect on the reasons which could have pushed these men to attack the magistrate. With a first question: why use such a weapon? “Even if an LBD can kill, one wonders if that was the goal, notes someone close to the case. Because for thugs, it’s almost more difficult to obtain than a firearm…” While significant work has already been done on the telephone and on the motorcycle used by the criminals, no police custody has for the moment took place in this file and the gendarmes of the SR of Versailles still do not rule out any track to explain this “attempted assassination”.

The first obviously concerns the victim’s activities as a judge. “I was targeted, because, as a judge, I represent the institution”, affirmed the magistrate to our colleagues from the “Point” a few weeks after her attack. Reputed to be severe and harsh, she has judged and condemned many people during her career. With sometimes very heavy penalties. Could the motive for the aggression then be revenge on the part of a convict? Reprisals led by a relative of a detainee?

The revenge of a convict?

For two years, the investigators of the SR of Versailles have thus retraced all the hearings chaired by the judge in search of a condemned person who could have been vehement or uttered threats against the magistrate. No success at this stage. The hypothesis of a quarrel with garbage collectors has also been dug, without more success. Especially since the victim had no memory of any conflict opposing him to people of this profession in his commune. Real claim or attempt to cover the tracks? Another hypothesis, the reference to “garbage collectors” could be interpreted as a metaphor for a category of precarious population who would have had trouble with the justice system.

Even if the attack had been mentioned by anarchist media which recalled the severity of the magistrate, the track of a political crime does not seem to be credible for the investigators. Still placed under police protection, the magistrate for her part resumed her place at the Versailles Court of Appeal. “She is a woman who was shot, but she is also a symbol, underlines her lawyer, Me Caty Richard. A magistrate is the embodiment of justice, and justice is everyone’s business. Tomorrow, each of you may need to appeal to our legal system. And letting such a crime go unpunished means accepting that the very idea of ​​justice is threatened. »

All information should be sent to 01.39.49.50.50., 06.75.96.59.52 or by email: sr.versailles + [email protected]

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